Sunday, 28 August 2011

A happy whisk creating a delicious batter

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

I found this easy Chocolate Sultana Cake recipe as I had some sultanas left over from making a very delicious tagine and wanted something sweet to eat with my cup of tea and found this incredibly easy recipe.

Be careful you won't be able to stop at one slice. Delicious and nutritious. See the nutritional content below.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

So what is baking soda and baking powder? Well they are not the same thing and they are not interchangeable. They are both leavening agents - a leavening agent is a substance used in doughs and batters that produces carbon dioxide and causes them to rise.

Do not add more baking powder to a recipe because it will:

1. Cause the batter to taste bitter

2. It can cause the mixture to rise too rapidly which will make the air bubbles grow too large and burst in turn causing the mixture to fall.

If you have plain flour and want to make self-raising flour then mix two teaspoons baking powder to a cup of plain flour then sift a few times.

Want to make your own baking powder:

To make 1 tsp of baking powder you need:

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cornstarch (Add this ingredient if you plan to store it as cornstarch absorbs moisture in the air preventing a premature chemical reaction between the cream of tartar and baking soda)

A quick note – you have to work quickly when using homemade baking powder.

Friday, 19 August 2011

I have always wanted to make Greek Moussaka. You would think being Greek my mother would have found an easy Moussaka recipe and made it for us growing up but she never did, she always said we would never like it so never bothered.

Since I moved out of home a year ago a lot has changed. And the best thing of all I am now cooking for myself which I am deliriously happy about, pity about the washing up though hahaha. My mother never liked me cooking in the kitchen. It was her domain and gave me great grief whenever I tried to cook anything which I really resent her for hmpf!

Anyway I am ecstatic now that I am cooking and finally came across a recipe that seems easy enough so gave it a try, most important of all it's lactose free! No Bechamel sauce on top and you are not missing out at all! It still tastes divine.

A few things I noticed:

Firstly - the recipe says minced lamb and I used beef! It still came out tasting delicious.

Second - It says to cook for 1 ½ hours on the stove and to stir occasionally. It started out like this but within 10 minutes the mixture dried up and started burning! So then I had to stand by the stove top and pour in about 1/4 cup of water alternating with some good splashes of wine to keep this thirsty meal quenched.

Thirdly - It says to cook for 1 ½ hours but I was exhausted and hungry so cut it back to 1 hr. I think even this is excessive. If I ever cook this again which I doubt, I will only cook it for 30 minutes on the stove top and about 15-20 minutes in the oven. The cooking time specified it excessive.

Fourth - This did turn out really oily. Try not to put in too much oil. The oil suggested is not enough especially when you are frying the eggplant and zucchini. I did this in batches and a few tablespoons of oil is not enough.

1. In a large frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and fry the mince until browned. Pour off any excess fat and place mince in a bowl to the side.

2. In the same pan gently cook the garlic and onion in 1 tbsp olive oil until the onion has softened then add the mince to the onion and garlic.

3. Add wine, puree, chopped tomatoes, oregano, cumin and cinnamon stick. (Do not cut in half because you will end up with pieces of cinnamon in your food, not a good look). Simmer uncovered for 1 hour, stirring continuously and pouring in about 1/4 cup of water every 10 - 15 minutes.

This is a thirsty dish, it just sucks up all the liquid you put in it. Remove the cinnamon stick (hopefully it hasn't broken up into shards) and season to taste. Preheat oven to 190C.

4. Fry the eggplant and zucchini slices in the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil until golden on both sides and season well with salt and black pepper. Try not to add more oil otherwise your dish will end up very oily.

5. Place a layer of eggplant and zucchini on the bottom of an ovenproof dish (15 cms by 10 cms ), followed by half the mince mixture. Add another layer of eggplant and zucchini then the rest of the mince and finally a final layer of eggplant and zucchini.

6. Bake the moussaka for about 25-30 then serve.

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In the end this recipe did come out really delicious but it is not easy. It is time consuming, messy and really oily (this was probably my fault) and takes ages. I was starving by the time it was ready.

I am waiting for my equally baking loving friend Tina to send me a better recipe, she said she has a good one from George Calombaris. A Greek would know better so let's see how I will go with that one.

This one I am not making again or if I do it will be my way with less cooking, less oil!

Friday, 5 August 2011

This is a delicious recipe. It was taken from a book my friend gave me for my birthday earlier this year called the Big Book of Baking. I like baking something different and saw this one and thought yep I am going to try it. I have never used coconut cream before and the pineapple jam sounded irresistible.

I looked everywhere but could not find the jam but did find a Passionfruit Pineapple Jam from IXL at Woolworths. I picked out as many passionfruit seeds as I could and it turned out a treat.

Also the recipe called for two 20cm tins but I only have one so used one and just cut it in half. It still worked out incredibly well.

The measurements are also in grams not cups which makes it a bit tricky, I didn't want to write on my book and forgot to write out the measurements separately so you will need your electronic scale for this one.

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

I found this really good recipe and only had to alter the milk so I could use lactose free milk or soy milk.

The strawberries were placed on the bottom of the loaf tin but made there way up through the cake but I guess this is good too as it added some deliciously sweet strawberry flavour throughout. It worked out really well. Just make sure you don't over beat otherwise it will get a little rubbery!

I love Madeira Cake so found this Madeira cake recipe as I hadn’t eaten any in ages and can’t have the store bought one because of all the butter in it. Also since I have been cooking almost everything I eat I prefer home made at least it doesn’t have any chemicals in it I don’t know about and it is much healthier for me.

So I found this Madeira Cake recipe and changed it around a bit. I like to use Meadow Lea margarine because it uses vegetable oils and has very little milk solids in it.

Directions
Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in lemon rind. In a separate bowl beat eggs until thick. Stir in sifted flour and baking powder together. Add into creamed mixture alternating with the eggs. Stir to mix.

Squeeze in by hand juice of half a lemon, make sure to catch pips before they fall in, which basically means not too much lemon juice. Spoon mixture into a medium sized loaf pan greased and lined with baking paper.

Bake at 180 for 30 minutes or till cake springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin for a few minutes then pull out loaf with baking paper and leave to cool on cooling rack.

Monday, 1 August 2011

Now these homemade mini apple pies are not tiny they are just a smaller size, about the same size as a meat pie. This recipe is not totally lactose free. The shortcrust pastry does have butter in it but the rest of the recipe is lactose free.

It's hard to avoid milk and butter sometimes and there are days when you just want a nice homemade apple pie in cold weather to make you smile and warm you up.

As you can see I had my yummy little pie with a delicious glass of Laurance Rose.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Combine apple, caster sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Cover and simmer, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until apple is just tender. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool completely.

Meanwhile, line the bases and sides of two round 9cm (base measurement) pie tins with half the pastry and trim excess. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

Using a pastry brush, brush the edges with melted margarine. Use a slotted spoon to divide the apple mixture evenly among the pastry cases. Then sprinkle in 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon sugar and drizzle 1/2 teaspoon honey. Once cooked you will taste the delicious honey coming through, it really adds to the flavour.

Use the top of a pie tin which is 12.5cm round and cut 2 discs from the remaining pastry. Top each pie with a pastry disc and use a fork to press the edges to seal. Use a small sharp knife to trim any excess pastry and cut a small slit in the centre of each pie.

Make little pastry leaves as decoration on top. Simply cut small leaf shapes and then with the tip of the knife cut in a few leaf details. Brush the tops with the melted margarine and sprinkle cinnamon sugar.

Place pies on a baking tray. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

I hope this baking conversion chart helps all those from all around the world who use different temperature types and have different ovens to be able to cook the lactose free recipes I find and alter so those of us who are lactose intolerant can eat.